2:57 AM,
Jul. 7, 2013

Gans

Written by

David Gans
| Special to The Courier-Journal

The Constitution's promise of equality for all persons was at the center of the Supreme Court's biggest cases handed down this year, but the justices failed to offer any coherent understanding of this core constitutional ideal.

In the two biggest decisions, both decided by 5-4 votes, the justices struck down key parts of the "Defense of Marriage Act," perhaps one of our nation's most reviled laws, and the Voting Rights Act, long celebrated as the crown jewel of our democracy. The first was true to the Constitution's text and meaning, the second flouted them. In these cases, the court's ...